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Personal Statement

My first concern is the satisfaction of my customer. I want to work with you on your hat expectations. For example, is the hat to be worn for a specific occasion? Do you see a certain shape, color, or trimming in my sample pictures that you like? Please note that the hat pictures on my web site are only samples of my work. You may choose from a style you see in the few sample hat pictures shown, or I can make a similar style by changing the color or hat trimmings, or create something all together different. If you have a request for something that is beyond my capabilities, I will let you know upfront. I want to hear what your needs are and then spend some time thinking about what I can do for you and then get back to you to discuss my ideas. I can email you photos of fabrics, trimmings, etc. that I might use in the design of your hat so that you can approve them in advance of manufacturing the hat. When your hat is finished, you can be sure that I will guarantee the quality of my workmanship before sending the hat to you.

From my photographs you can see that I like to work with hat styles of the past. In fact, some of the wooden blocks that I use to shape my hat crowns and brims are antique blocks. I acquired and now own a wooden brim block from the 1940s that was used by a famous milliner in Paris. To me, hat wearing is like playing dress up for adults. It allows the wearer to enter into a fantasy world by wearing a certain hat and outfit that will personify a look of elegance and emulate the glamour of a bygone era. The personality of that hat will be yours while that hat is on your head. Whether you are wearing a romantic large brim hat covered with ostrich feathers, a 1920s cloche, or a 1930s/40s cocktail hat, your admirers will smile and thank you for wearing it. And ladies, you will see a big difference in the way your man (and others) react to you when you are wearing a Jan Ali Hat. Men love to see women in hats. You may be surprised to see how that old time chivalry reappears when a woman is wearing a feminine hat.

Thank You

I would like to thank the following family members for all their help in finding family pictures shown on my website: my mother, June Chew Matthews; my brother and sister, Greg Matthews and Diane Matthews Altier; my aunt, Violet Chew; my uncle, Paul Matthews; my second cousins, Jean Johnson Huhn, Paul Johnson, Fay Johnson Sexton, and Doris Chew Bigler. To find photographs going as far back as my great, great grandfather could not have been done without the help of all these relatives.

Last, but not least, I would like to thank my lovely, young model, Camille Jagessar, a native of Trinidad, but now living with her husband in the United States. She is truly a beauty in all ways.

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